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Hardware Tips for Great Skype Calls

For a lot of Skype users the next few days will be all about holiday celebrations and being with family near and far. Recently I wrote some tips on setting yourself up for a great Skype call and today I’d like to expand on that with tips for gearing up. Perfect timing for some last-minute Christmas shopping!

The more things change, the more the need for a headset stays the same

If you make your Skype calls from your laptop or desktop PC, getting yourself a headset still is the key to great sound quality.

Having a headset serves two purposes, it gets the microphone closer to your mouth and it means the sound is captured by a far better microphone than the ones which are typically built into a laptop. The first is important because it increases the contrast between your voice and background sounds. The second is down to the fact that microphones built into laptops are usually cheap and small to keep the cost of the device down and make room for other, more important, components.

If you’re looking for a headset that’s guaranteed to work with Skype, take a look at the products in the Skype shop.

Skype on Xbox One is a great way to get everyone on the call

If you’ve got a number of people in the room and want to call someone on Skype then a headset isn’t always the best option. One way of getting everyone to join in is to get a USB speakerphone such as the Jabra SPEAK410.

Recently we’ve introduced another great way to get a whole room on a call with Skype on Xbox One. The Kinect 2.0 has a great microphone and camera for picking up everyone in the room and letting them be part of the fun.

Tip: You can toggle the auto-zoom feature in Skype on Xbox One by selecting your own image during a call

Average internet connection speeds are growing pretty rapidly around the world. The quality of integrated webcams isn’t growing anywhere near as quickly. Because of this your internet connection might be able to handle better video quality than your webcam. With a HD webcam like this Logitech C270 you can really put your connection to work on your behalf.